Between the Mexikói út terminus
and the Nagy Lajos király útja triangle junction, route 69 shares
tracks with route 3. From then on to Rákospalota, MÁV-telep, it's
joined by route 62. On this page, I only discuss the route between Nagy
Lajos király útja and Újpest, Erdőkerülő utca - the
previous stretch can be find on route 3's page.

Although this part of Zugló is like
a small village with more garden houses and less mansions, the section
which comes here, is more urban, though in a worn-out way.

To the left: a series of factory buildings
- probably the last sign of any industrial activities around here. To the
right: tenement houses a few hundred meters further.

The bridge over the runnel Rákospatak
(left) brings a slight change: although you will still see a few office
buildings and small mills, the area turns into a more residential one,
with new condos being built instead of the old, delapidated tenements (right).

The railway underpass is where district
14 (Zugló) ends, and district 15 (Rákospalota, Pestújhely)
starts.

This place is known as MÁV-telep
("MÁV estates"), because it was built right next to the housing area of
the state railway company MÁV. Between 2001 and 2008 the terminus was called
Mézeskalács tér, but then it was renamed.

The double reversing loop layout was originally
built for route 62 and the now non-existing route 67, so it now looks a
bit oversized. Contrary to most tram termini, this one is built with "big
railway"-like points and light signals, remotely controlled from the booth
at the inbound platform.

The actual tram stop is before the loop,
where there's also another track, relatively rarely used (e.g. for the
storage of broken-down trams). Then there's the turnout for the two reversing
tracks.

On the other side of the park, the reversing
tracks join the inbound track of route 69.

Route 69 doesn't enther the loops, but
goes 'round the park on a third track.

Lost
rails: route 65, Szent Korona útja

The track layout of Rákospalota,
MÁV telep in 1970, and between '73 and '81

Until 1970 tram 67 terminated
here, while tram 65 went further on the single track of the original route
69, which was originally a HÉV line. Then tram 69 was abandoned, and the
rest of the route to the old centre of Rákospalota was served by
tram 65. In 1973 today's tram 69 was launced on new tracks, and tram 65
received a new terminus in today's Szent Korona útja (which was named after
Lenin in those days).

Since this was a single-track
route, with double-ended trams, the terminus was really simple, and the
connection to route 62/69 was only used by depot and special runs. Route
65 was closed in 1980, but the line was used as the connection between
depot Angyalföld and Zugló until about the end of the decade.

The small-village mood remains after we
leave the high-rise housing area.

Depending on the weather, this stretch
can be both relaxing and austere.

Soon we reach the Újpalota housing
area, one of the largest such housing area in Pest. This place is a high-rise
concrete settlement, but at least it's got its own tram line, while most
such estates in the city didn't get any kind of rail-bound mass transit.

After two stops we reach the spinal road
of the area, where for a short distance, we turn back towards the inner
city. It's a mistery to me why they didn't extended the now-abandoned tram
line 44 from Rákospatak to here instead of taking such a roundabout
route!

Anyway, this section is really short, and
soon we make another turn to:

Interestingly, the platform has a roof,
which is not at all a common feature on the Budapest tram system! There
were plans to extend the housing area further along this street, but they
weren't realised, so it looks liek if it was the end of the city, but it's
not.